It's Harder Than It Looks
by LucyLuMcarty-Cullen
Summary: What do you do when someone asks you to live a life you left behind? Well, Penelope Follett goes to Jericho, California.
1. It's Harder Than It Looks

**Okay, so this is my newest fanfic. It's a Supernatural fanfic. And I'm feeling pretty good about it. Now, I know what you're thinking, the 'add a female character to the Winchester pair and have her travel with them' is a little over done. When I got the idea, I wasn't going to do it. But it just wouldn't get out of my head. So be a dear, and just bear with me, yeah? Thanks!!!**

**Now, if you know me and my writing, you know I care a lot about grammar and spelling, so if by some chance I'm having an off day or something and my grammar or spelling is awful, let me know, I'll fix it.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Just Penelope.**

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Prologue

In the darkness of the hotel room, there was silence. It was as if the body lying in the bed wasn't even there. Their breathing was quiet, their body still beneath the cover. The sudden ringing of the phone shattered the silence in half. Its shrill tone rousing the girl out of her slumber, she turned to her side, huffing at the phone as if it was her worst enemy. But when she looked at the screen, there was no sign of an incoming call.

"What the_" She stopped short when she realized it wasn't the phone on the night stand ringing. The girl lifted herself from the bed, ignoring the chill she got when her feet touched the icy floor. She reached her suitcase and unzipped the front pocket. 'Unknown Caller', the screen read. She sighed, she knew she didn't have to answer, but her curiosity got the better of her.

"Hello?"

"…"

"Hello?" She said again, this time her voice tainted with apprehension.

"Penn…it's me." The gruff voice from the other side of the call answered.

"I'm sorry, who is 'me' exactly?" She asked as politely as she could. The early morning wasn't allowing her brain to process the familiarity of the voice. An audible sigh was heard from the caller.

"John. John Winchester."

"Oh." She was worried when she had answered it would be him, or any of the others. A job, probably. Well, he was in for a surprise, she wasn't taking jobs anymore. And after this phone call, she was going to get rid of the phone. That would put an end to this. Put an end to her guilt. "Hey John. What's new?" She asked as casually as possible.

"I know that we haven't talked in a while. I heard you wanted it that way. Everybody's saying you quit. You know, after what happened to your dad." She almost hung up when she heard this. It's been a year. A year since her dad got killed. A year since she gave it all up.

"Look John. I wasn't mad at anybody. I told Bobby that. It was nobody's fault. It's just that, I was in all this because of my dad. To help him. And now that he isn't here anymore, I don't see the point in…I just don't see the point."

"I get that. And I wouldn't be calling unless I had to. I've got a problem. I'm on a hunt, and I can't finish it."

"John…" She interrupted, knowing exactly where he was going with this.

"I need some help, Penn. Actually, my boy, Dean. I don't think you ever met him, did you?"

"No, I didn't John. But I don't see_"

"Penn…you think you can help me? Just this once. I hate to say that you owe me, but…" The pair couldn't help but share a laugh at that. She did owe him, a million times over. He saved her life, more than once, and in more ways than one. Taught her things, things she won't easily forget.

"Yeah, I know." She said.

"It won't take more than a few days." Penelope let out a chuckle. John Winchester's idea of a few days was a bit different than hers. "Just get in, get out." She almost didn't see the point in putting up more of a fight; she knew she was going to go. Her last hunt didn't go well, not at all. This would give her a chance to get some closure. End her 'career' on a good note.

"Alright John. I'll do it."

"Thanks Penelope. It means a lot." Penelope smiled to herself. John never called her Penelope, said it was to girly of a name for a hunter.

"So where do I meet you?"

"Well, that's why I brought up Dean. You remember when I said that I can't finish the job? I'm not there anymore, but if I know my boy, he will be."

"Where is 'there' exactly?" She asked getting out her pen and a piece of paper.

"Jericho, California. There's a hotel, off the highway. Beat up, pretty shabby."

"Yeah, that sounds about right."

"Go to room ten. All the details of the hunt are in there. You can do this, no problem. Keep an eye out for Dean, I don't know when he'll show up, but I have a feeling he will."

"John, in all the time that I've known you, I've never seen you give up on a hunt. Why this one? What have you gotten yourself into?" She heard him chuckle a bit.

"Why do you assume I've gotten myself into anything?"

"Call it intuition." She said smiling. She knew he wasn't going to tell her.

"Look, I have to go. You need to get away from where ever you are as soon as possible. I'm putting you into danger by calling you like this. I can't thank you enough."

"John, you're scaring me."

"Don't be scared. Just be safe." And with that he hung up the phone.

She looked at the phone for a minute. The call ended so abruptly, it was almost as if it was a dream. Did John Winchester just call her? Is she really going on this hunt? She had never gone on a hunt alone before. She almost hoped to run into this Dean, but then again she didn't want to meet any more hunters. Their lives were too complicated, too dangerous. She wanted to be done with it all more than anything. But first, this last hunt. Penelope had to go to Jericho, California.

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**Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed the prologue and that you'll read the next chapter. Which I am working on right now. You guys are awesome and your input is even more awesome. So, review, let me know what you think.**

**-Sam **


	2. To Be Normal

**So, think of this as chapter one. Also, the first episode. Let me know what you think!!!!!!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

Penn packed quickly and grabbed a shower; she looked at her clock, three in the morning. She pulled on the clothes that she had left out of her suitcase, they were simple enough, if she remembered anything about hunting it was that it all came down to blending in, just a black tank and some jeans. She grabbed her red fleece hoodie and her duffle and walked out the door.

The drive to Jericho was a lot shorter than she expected. But the feeling that she got when she parked at the motel, that was no surprise at all. Her stomach was doing flip flops, she could try to pass it off as nerves, but that wasn't it. She wasn't nervous, she was scared. This life, the life of a hunter, it did things to people, made them cold and unreachable. But that wasn't the worst part. It was when you can see it all happening to you, but you're too sucked in, too involved, she knew after she got into this hunt all the work she had done over the past year would be for nothing. Everything she had tried to forget, it would be back.

"Now or never." She said to herself, as she dragged her body out of her car. Penelope located room 10 easily and checked over her shoulder to see if anyone was watching. There was no one in the parking lot, so she bent down and picked the lock. When she felt the click of the knob she couldn't help the satisfied smirk that came to her face. "Like riding a bike."

She slipped into the room and balked at what she saw. If she hadn't known that John was the last inhabitant of this room, she would have thought the person to be mentally ill. But then again, with everything John Winchester has been through, going cookoo bananas didn't seem all that farfetched. He had done his research that was for damn sure. All over the walls were photos of what Penelope thought to be the victims, missing person flyers, and newspaper articles. She sighed and did a 360 spin looking around the room. She stopped her spin at the missing persons flyers, gotta start somewhere. The next couple of hours were spent looking around the room, reading and learning about the case.

Penelope was impressed by John's research and that he had figured it out. I mean the victims had absolutely nothing in common. She was looking over the clip of the article about Constance Welch and deciding if now was a good time to go visit her husband when she heard the familiar sound of someone picking a lock. She looked at the knob and saw it wiggling; she turned and moved into the bathroom. Penn felt like her heart was pounding out of her chest. She heard the door shut and a faint 'whoa.' Yeah? My sentiments exactly, she thought to herself as she continued to eavesdrop on her intruders.

"I don't think he's been here for a couple days at least." One of them said. So, where they looking for John. How much trouble was he in? How much trouble did that put her in?

"Salt. Cat's eye shells. He was worried, trying to keep something from coming in. What do you got here?" The other asked. So there were two boys, well men. And they were probably a lot bigger than Penelope. She was officially worried.

"Centennial Highway victims. I don't get it; they're different men, different jobs, ages, ethnicities. There's always a connection, right? What do these guys have in common?"

"Huh, dad figured it out."

"Wait, dad?" Penelope asked herself. Once she heard the words come out of her mouth, her hand flew up and covered it. So stupid. She stayed completely still and hoped they didn't hear. When she didn't see any people flying into the bathroom with guns blazing, she let her hand fall.

"What do you mean?"

"He found the same article we did. Constance Welch. She's a woman in white."

"Oh, you sly dogs. Alright, so if we're dealing with a woman in white, dad would have found the corpse and destroyed it." _**So, both of them are John's sons. He only mentioned the one.**_ Penelope almost wanted to make her presence known, but she didn't think that they would react well. And she didn't know these boys, what if they were the 'shoot first and ask questions later' type? Yeah, she would wait till they left.

"Alright, why don't you see if you can find an address. I'm going to get cleaned up." _**Cleaned up? In the bathroom? Of course in the BATHROOM! This isn't good. Got to get out, got to get out.**_ She moved over to the toilet as quietly and quickly as possible. She slid open the window and without a second thought jumped up and out of it. Penn slid it back closed the same time the door opened to the bathroom. She let out a breathe and put her back against the wall. Penelope got up and moved to her car. She felt something coming up in her throat, was she going to throw up? She let out a laugh, almost sounding hysterical. And then she couldn't stop. She was laughing and clutching her stomach.

"That was awesome." She said to no one in particular. Penn hadn't felt like that in what seemed like forever. She had forgotten the rush, and the excitement.

She opened the door to her car and got in. She was still laughing a little, and her cheeks were starting to ache some from the huge smile on her face. Penn was having fun, for the first time in a very _very _long time, she was having fun. She turned her car on and pulled out of the space. On her way into town she passed a couple of police cars heading towards her previous direction. _**Uh-oh, that's not good.**_

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Later, at Mr. Welch's house, Penn had changed her clothes into a pencil skirt and a nice white blouse, put on some black rimmed reading glasses, some heals, and knotted her pony tail into a nice bun. She pulled her 'press' badge out of her car and placed it on her blouse. Penelope got her story straight and knocked on the door.

Mr. Welch was a tiny man, who looked like he had been through every bad disaster under the sun. He was worn and very tired. He looked at her with nothing but apprehension.

"Can I help you?" He asked in a surprisingly low voice.

"Yes, I'm Penn Collins. I was wondering if I could ask you a couple questions for an article I'm writing." She smiled.

"Oh, uh, you with that guy that was here a while back?" Must be John.

"Yes, yes I am." Come on Penelope, think of something. "The problem is, Mr. Welch, is that my colleague is feeling a bit under the weather, and I was supposed to do some fact checking, but I can't get any of his files because I don't want to disturb him. If it isn't too much trouble, I was wondering if you could just give me a brief summary of what the two of you talked about." She said, trying to seem as charming as possible.

"Well...alright." He stepped aside and invited her in.

* * *

Sam was frustrated and very worried for his brother. He was going to have to do this part on his own, and Dean was stuck in jail. He pulled the impala up to the address he had written down and exited the car. He looked around at what seemed like a bit of a junkyard. But then his eyes landed on a really nice black sports car. That doesn't belong here. He moved over to it and looked inside the window. He saw a discarded FBI badge, a pick lock kit, and what he thought to be the butt end of a gun sticking out from under the passenger seat. So either there was a murderous FBI agent in Mr. Welch's house or a hunter with a messy car. He moved back to the impala and moved it out onto the road. He was going to follow whoever it was after they left the house.

It wasn't fifteen minutes later when the car was pulling out onto the road. Sam stayed a good distance behind the nicer car and followed them out to the main road.

Penelope looked in the rear view mirror and saw a car, a little old, but well taken care of. It had been following her for a while. It didn't look too threatening, but it wasn't like she was being tailed by a little white bunny rabbit either. She made up her mind and stomped on the breaks. She could hear the squealing breaks of the car behind her as she reached over and grabbed her gun, placing it in the back of her skirt. _**Oh yeah, the librarian look would intimidate anybody**_, she thought to herself sarcastically.

Sam hadn't expected the sudden stop, but was able to avoid hitting the car. The other car's occupant stepped out, and Sam was more than surprised. It was a girl, a very beautiful girl. She was a little short, about 5'5, and had blonde hair that was pulled back off her striking face. Her eyes widened as if saying 'well, what are you waiting for?'

He stepped out of his car and walked over to where she was standing. She placed her hand on her hips and had the look of a teacher ready to scold a rowdy student. It was actually a little cute.

"Why are you following me?" She asked, looking around him trying to get a better view of the Impala.

"Ummm, I don't know what you're talking about." He said, going for a look of innocence. Her eyes squinted, still looking at the car. She walked around him and over to his car.

"Is this a '67 Impala?" She asked. He was surprised by her question, but still nodded his head. "Are you Dean Winchester?" How did she know Dean? Well, she obviously didn't KNOW Dean, if she didn't know what he looked like.

"Uh, no. I'm Sam."

"But you're still John's son? I mean he said something about Dean, but I thought he only had the one son." She said quickly. He smiled ruefully.

"Yeah, he wouldn't have told you about me. Wait, when did you talk to him?"

"Yesterday, well this morning, really really early. Why?"

"We haven't heard from him in a while. We thought he was missing. We came here to look for him."

"He's not here."

"What do you mean?"

"That's why he called me, said that he needed me to come and help out. He said that he couldn't finish the job."

"Did he say why?" He moved closer to her. She didn't really back off much, not feeling extremely threatened by the guy.

"Uh, no. I'm sorry. I seriously thought he would have called you guys."

"He left Dean a message, but that's it." They both didn't know what to say about this. Confronting this guy wasn't as bad as she thought it would be. And he was kind of cute. Ha, who was she kidding, he was gorgeous. "So, uh, who are you exactly?" He asked with a bit of smile. She could have smacked herself.

"Oh, gosh, sorry. My name is Penelope. Follett. Penelope Follett." She stuck her hand out for him to shake.

"Well, Penelope, I'm Sam Winchester. It's nice to meet you." They let their hands fall to their sides. "So, how come you thought I was Dean?"

"It was the car. I've hunted with your dad some, so I've seen the Impala a lot, he loved that thing."

"Yeah, he did. So, you're really a hunter?" He asked with a large amount of disbelief.

"Is it that much of a surprise?" She smiled at Sam. She had gotten this reaction more than one time. People thought her dad was crazy, bringing along a girl like her. Bobby Singer was probably the first person to ever show her some respect on the job. That soon spread and she never had a problem again. "I got into it 'cause of my dad. I'm better at it than you think." She said as a reflex, really, she was used to defending her skills as a hunter.

"Oh, no, I didn't mean it like that. I'm sure you do great, I've just never met a hunter like you." _**He had obviously never met Jo**_, she thought. "So, I saw you were at Mr. Welch's place. How are you moving along on the hunt?"

"Well, it turns out your dad was right. She is a woman in white. Mr. Welch wasn't faithful, but I wouldn't go back and ask him again, he didn't really respond well to that."

"I believe you. Dad is rarely wrong."

"What do you think we should do next?"

"Well, here's the thing. Dean kinda got into trouble. He's in jail."

"Ah, so those police cars _were_ for you guys…"

"How did you know about that?"

"I was sort of in the bathroom while you guys were in your dad's room. While I was leaving, I saw the police, they looked like they were headed for the motel, I just wasn't sure."

"I can't believe we missed that."

"It happens to the best of us. How about this: you go over to the Welch's old house, I have the address in the car, and I'll get Dean out of jail."

"And how do you suppose you'll do that?" Sam asked as they both headed over to her car. She laughed a little and shook her head.

"Well, I am already a damsel; I just have to find some distress. Or at least fake some." She smiled and handed him the address. "We'll meet up at the house?"

"Alright, thanks for helping."

"It's not a problem, I'm sure you would do fine without me."

"Even so…" She understood and just waved him off. She didn't mind helping, after all, she had already told John she would. They nodded at each other and headed their separate ways.

Penelope got to a payphone near the police station and dialed 911.

"Hello?! Hello?!" She asked into the phone trying to sound frantic. "Please you have to help. I heard gunshots, a lot of gunshots. Someone might me dead. I don't know what to do."

"It's alright ma'am, where are you?" Penelope smiled, this was too easy.

* * *

Later, when she saw the police cars leave the station, she pulled up to the alley behind the building and hoped that was where Dean was coming out. She parked and got out of her car and made her way into the dark alley. Penn looked up the fire escape and saw a guy climbing out the window, she figured it had to be Dean. He dropped down to the ground just a few feet away from her. He turned and stopped short.

"Going somewhere? My name's Penn, your brother is on his way to where Constance's bones are buried, you should give him a call, let him know you're safe. Come with me." Penn tossed him her phone and began walking to her car. He was too surprised to argue with her and just followed her out of the alley, dialing Sam's phone number.

"A fake 911 phone call Sammy, I don't know, that's pretty illegal."… "It was? Huh."… "Look we got to talk."… "Sammy listen, dad's not here."… "What do you mean you already know?"… "Well, she's just all kinds of help, isn't she?" Penn rolled her eyes at this and climbed into the car; he followed and let out a sigh. "Look, he left his journal."… "The same old ex-marine crap when he wants to let us know where he's going."… "I'm not sure yet."… "Sam. Sam!" He slammed the phone shut and turned to Penn.

"We have to go now. Sam's in trouble." Penelope didn't ask any questions, just put the car into gear and sped off into the direction of the house. Penn didn't think she had ever driven this fast before.

They reached the house and jumped out of the car; she grabbed a gun for herself and tossed one to Dean. They both could hear Sam screaming and wasted no time getting to the Impala. The girl was on top of him with her hands in his chest, the sight of it made Penelope stop, it'd been a long time since she'd seen something like that. Dean had kept moving and shot Constance until she disappeared. Penelope barely registered the Impala blowing through the front of the house.

When she came back to her sense, she ran into the house to see Dean pulling Sam out of the car. The Woman in White was back and she looked really angry, she threw down the picture she was holding and sent a dresser flying towards them, pinning the three of them to the car. Penelope's gun fell out of her hand, and she couldn't reach it. Sam and Dean were pushing against the dresser, but it wasn't budging.

Water started flowing down the stairs and the ghosts of Constance's children appeared at the top of the stairs.

"You've come home to us mommy." They embraced Constance and she started screaming. Penelope closed her eyes and turned away. When the screaming was over they pushed the dresser off of their bodies.

"So this is where she drowned her kids" Dean said.

"That's why she could never go home. She was too scared to face them."

"You found her weak spot, nice work Sammy." Dean patted Sam's chest.

"Hahaha. Yeah I wish I could say the same for you, what were you thinking shooting Casper in the face, you freak?"

"Hey, saved your ass. I'll tell you another thing, if you screwed up my car, I'll kill you." Sam laughed and Penelope couldn't help but join in, these two were definitely brothers.

"So, now what?" She asked.

"What do you mean? The job's done. You're off the hook." Sam joked.

"Oh, okay. Yeah, that's great." Penn said, sounding less than pleased.

"You could always stick around, just till the dust settles, I mean." Sam suggested. Dean looked like he was about to disagree, but Sam just gave him a look. Dean sighed and hung his head.

"Yeah, you ummm…" Dean cleared his throat. "You should hang with us for a bit. You did good today. Thanks." This looked like it was really hard for Dean to say, so Penelope smiled and nodded her head. She thought that if she dragged out the conversation anymore, he might burst. "Well, let's hit the road then."

* * *

Penelope was in her car driving to Stanford. She was a little confused about why, but that's where Sam's text said they were heading. She couldn't believe that all of this had happened in one day, one very very long day. If she was honest with herself though, it had been the best day she had had in a while. Hunting wasn't like she remembered, she always just associated it with her dad dying, she never blamed anyone, but she did blame hunting. But now that was all screwed up. She had actually had fun. She liked dressing up and pretending to be a reporter, or FBI, or the coroner. She thought that calling the police today to help Dean escape was the coolest thing ever. Penn never wanted the life of a hunter, but it was the life she was given, maybe it was the one she was supposed to have.

The Impala pulled off the road and she followed it into what must have been an apartment complex. She got out of her car the same time that Sam exited the Impala.

"Hey, what are we doing here?"

"This is where I live."

"Oh, I just thought…"

"Yeah, I know. But I actually go to school here."

"Wow, that's impressive."

"Thanks. Look, it was really nice to meet you. Thank you for your help and everything, if you ever need anything…"

"Nah, I'll call somebody else. Someone who isn't so busy being normal." She smiled, she understood him. "Bye Sam."

"Bye Penelope." He headed inside and Penn walked over to the Impala. She tapped on the driver side window. Dean rolled it down and looked up at her.

"So, uh, I guess this is it. Thanks for letting me tag along. I just wanted to make sure you guys got home okay and now that Sam is here, I think its time for me to head out."

"What? You don't want to make sure I get home okay?" He said smirking at her.

"Ha! I have a feeling you can take care of yourself. See you, Dean."

"Yep." He said, popping the 'p' at the end.

Penn had barely gotten two feet from the Impala when she heard the scream. Dean was already out of his car and running into the building.

"Stay out here!" He yelled over his shoulder.

Penelope didn't know what was happening, but she knew it couldn't be good. When one of the windows blew out on the second floor, letting a raging fire free, she stopped breathing. That had to be Sam's apartment. But were they still in there? They came running out the front door the next second, Dean having to literally hold Sam's body up. He looked awful, he was limp and sobbing. She ran over to the brothers and helped Dean hold Sam up. They set him down on a curb and Penn sat down with him. After Dean called 911 and Sam had calmed a little, she turned to face him.

"Sam, what happened?"

"My girlfriend. She's dead." He got up and went over to the Impala. Penn saw Dean walking towards her and stood up. She looked at him with a silent question in her eyes.

"She was pinned to the ceiling. And then the fire…it's how our mom died."

"Dean, I'm really sorry. What are you guys going to do?"

"I have no idea. How about you?"

"Well, nothing actually. My dad died a while back. Never really had a mom, and my sister is MIA. I'll just you know…find something."

"A hunt?"

"Actually, before today, I hadn't been hunting in a really long time. Look, I know you just met me, but I could help. I'm a good hunter, I know my stuff. I guess what I'm saying is, I'm tired of being bored, and I'm tired of being alone."

"I don't know…"

"At least until you find your dad. Just so he knows I did what I promised and everything."

"Alright, we should head out. We know where those coordinates are now. I should go…see Sam. Just follow us out."

"Will do. Thanks Dean."

"Don't mention it. Seriously, don't." She shook her head and climbed in her car.

It's harder than it looks to be normal.

**Review Please!!!!**


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